Lamberti Party Switch Would Be Meaningless
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Partisanship has raised its ugly head again.
In Broward, that head is Democratic.
There has been a flurry of reports that Sheriff Al Lamberti is being pressed to switch from Republican to Democrat. The theory is that Lamberti would be more re-electable as a Democrat.
Okay, I buy that theory. Lamberti would be more electable.
That’s because some Democrats are lemmings who robotically choose any candidate with a D next to their name.
Can somebody tell me why party members have this unreasonable allegiance to their party?
What about being a Democrat makes conservative Mayor Jack Seiler of Fort Lauderdale similar to ultra-liberal U. S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz? What does Democrat U. S Sen. Bill Nelson have in common politically with County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs? County Commissioners Sue Gunzburger and John Rodstrom can’t agree on what day of the week it is, despite both of them being Democrats.
The move to convert Lamberti is representative of what’s wrong with so many voters blind partisanship.
This mindless devotion to the party is not exclusive to Democrats. Many Republicans vote for all kinds of dimwits just because they are members of the Grand Old Party.
There is good news: Voters in droves are fed-up with political parties. They are considering the candidate, not the party.
That’s why the number of Florida voters who identify themselves as having no party is 19.4 percent, up from 18.8 percent in just four years.
More good news: I’m told that Lamberti is leaning against a party switch.
He tells friends that party labels have no meaning in law enforcement. He’s right.
Lamberti would be the same person after a party switch. His policies wouldn’t change one iota.
The sheriff knows that there is no Republican or Democratic way to run the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
And supporting a candidate just because they are a Democrat or Republican is no way to vote.
September 28th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Sheriff Lamberti is a real law enforcement professional. If the voters don’t want that, I think the last Democrat they elected is still around. His name is Ken Jenne.
September 28th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
None of the constitutionals should be partisan. Honestly, there’s no good reason to even elect them. City races should become partisan just like county, state and federal policy makers run. Judges should not be elected. I like merit retention. But if we vote for them they too should be partisan so we have some clue what they stand for. Fix it.
September 28th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Al is who he is. He is showing his smarts by staying with his “R”. If all it takes is a “D” to get elected, then the people of Broward deserve exactly what they get….politicians…not public servants
September 30th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Ummm… The stigmata of partisanship is the backbone of our elected government system.
If we’re going to undo it, we’d have to start at the top & work our way down.
October 6th, 2010 at 11:40 am
The mindless devotion to party is what’s causing people to register as NPAs. The problem then becomes that the moderates in both the R and D parties leave, and then all that’s left are a bunch of extremists to pick their nominees.